BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1083
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, Chair
AB 1083
(Eggman) - As Amended March 26, 2015
SUBJECT: Political Reform Act of 1974: local enforcement.
SUMMARY: Permits the City Council of the City of Stockton and
the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) to enter into an
agreement that provides for the FPPC to enforce a local campaign
finance ordinance passed by the City Council of the City of
Stockton. Specifically, this bill:
1)Provides that, upon mutual agreement between the FPPC and the
City Council of the City of Stockton, the FPPC is authorized
to assume primary responsibility for the impartial, effective
administration, implementation, and enforcement of a local
campaign finance ordinance passed by the City Council of the
City of Stockton. Provides that the FPPC is authorized to be
the civil prosecutor responsible for the civil enforcement of
such an ordinance. Provides that as the civil prosecutor, the
FPPC may do both of the following:
a) Investigate possible violations of the local campaign
finance reform ordinance; and,
b) Bring administrative actions in accordance with the
Political Reform Act (PRA) and the administrative
adjudication provisions of the Administrative Procedure
AB 1083
Page 2
Act.
2)Requires any local campaign finance reform ordinance of the
City of Stockton that is enforced by the FPPC to comply with
the PRA.
3)Requires the City Council of the City of Stockton to consult
with the FPPC prior to adopting and amending any local
campaign finance reform ordinance that will be enforced by the
FPPC.
4)Permits the City Council of the City of Stockton and the FPPC
to enter into any agreements necessary and appropriate to
carry out the provisions of this bill, including agreements
pertaining to any necessary reimbursement of state costs with
city funds for costs incurred by the FPPC in administering,
implementing, or enforcing a local campaign finance reform
ordinance pursuant to this bill.
5)Prohibits an agreement entered into pursuant to the provisions
of this bill from containing any form of a cancellation fee,
liquidated damages provision, or other financial disincentive
to the exercise of the right to terminate the agreement,
except that the FPPC may require the City Council of the City
of Stockton to pay the FPPC for services rendered and any
other expenditures reasonably made by the FPPC in anticipation
of services to be rendered pursuant to the agreement if the
City Council of the City of Stockton terminates the agreement.
6)Permits the City Council of the City of Stockton or the FPPC
to terminate, at any time, by ordinance or resolution, any
agreement made pursuant to this bill for the FPPC to
administer, implement, or enforce a local campaign finance
reform ordinance or any other provisions thereof.
7)Requires the FPPC, if an agreement is entered into pursuant to
the provisions of this bill, to report to the Legislature on
or before January 1, 2019, and submit that report in
compliance with current law. Requires the FPPC to develop the
AB 1083
Page 3
report in consultation with the City Council of the City of
Stockton.
8)Requires the report to include, but not be limited to, all of
the following:
a) The status of the agreement;
b) The estimated annual cost savings, if any, for the City
of Stockton;
c) A summary of relevant annual performance metrics,
including measures of utilization, enforcement, and
customer satisfaction;
d) Public comments submitted to the FPPC or the City of
Stockton relative to the operation of the agreement; and,
e) Legislative recommendations.
9)Contains a January 1, 2020 sunset date.
10)Makes legislative findings and declarations as to the
necessity of a special statute for City of Stockton due to the
need to avoid an appearance of corruption in the city's
electoral process.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Creates the FPPC, and makes it responsible for the impartial,
effective administration and implementation of the PRA.
2)Requires a local government agency that adopts or amends a
local campaign finance ordinance to file a copy of the
ordinance with the FPPC.
3)Prohibits a local government agency from enacting a campaign
finance ordinance that imposes campaign reporting requirements
AB 1083
Page 4
that are additional to or different from those set forth in
the PRA for elections held in its jurisdiction unless the
additional or different requirements apply only to the
candidates seeking election in that jurisdiction, their
controlled committees or committees formed or existing
primarily to support or oppose their candidacies, and to
committees formed or existing primarily to support or oppose a
candidate or to support or oppose the qualification or passage
of a local ballot measure which is being voted on only in that
jurisdiction, and to city or county general purpose committees
active only in that city or county, respectively.
4)Authorizes the FPPC, until January 1, 2018, upon mutual
agreement between the FPPC and the San Bernardino County Board
of Supervisors, to have primary responsibility for the
impartial, effective administration, implementation, and
enforcement of a local San Bernardino County campaign finance
reform ordinance. Requires the San Bernardino County Board of
Supervisors to consult with the FPPC prior to adopting and
amending any local campaign finance reform ordinance that is
subsequently enforced by the FPPC.
5)Authorizes the FPPC, pursuant to the aforementioned agreement,
to investigate possible violations of the San Bernardino
County campaign finance reform ordinance and bring
administrative actions against persons who violate the
ordinance, as specified.
6)Permits the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors and the
FPPC to enter into any agreements necessary and appropriate
for the operation of these provisions, including agreements
for reimbursement of state costs with county funds, as
specified. Permits the San Bernardino County Board of
Supervisors or the FPPC, at any time, by ordinance or
resolution, to terminate any agreement for the FPPC to
administer, implement, or enforce the local campaign finance
reform ordinance or any provision thereof.
7)Requires the FPPC to report to the Legislature with specified
AB 1083
Page 5
information on or before January 1, 2017, if the FPPC enters
into such an agreement with the San Bernardino County Board of
Supervisors.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose of the Bill: According to the author:
This bill seeks to amend the Political Reform Act of 1974
in order to authorize the Fair Political Practices
Commission (FPPC) to enter into an agreement with the City
of Stockton to enforce campaign contribution limits. There
is an ongoing, national debate about the role money plays
in campaigns, and particularly the effect that large
contributions have on candidates once they are elected.
Candidates for elected office typically rely on money to
fund effective campaigns; the amount and source of those
donations can vary greatly. The City of Stockton currently
imposes no limits on donations by individuals to campaigns
for city offices, so the City Council is considering the
adoption of a municipal ordinance setting individual
campaign donation limits. The city does not have the
resources to oversee and enforce such [an] ordinance, but
the FPPC has, through past legislation, arranged with the
County of San Bernardino to do just that. This bill would
simply allow the City of Stockton to make the same mutual
arrangement with the FPPC.
2)San Bernardino County: In 2012, the Legislature passed and
the Governor signed AB 2146 (Cook), Chapter 169, Statutes of
2012, which permitted San Bernardino County and the FPPC to
enter into an agreement that provides for the FPPC to enforce
the County's local campaign finance reform ordinance. Prior
AB 1083
Page 6
to this, the FPPC did not enforce any local campaign finance
ordinances. According to previous analyses, the County of San
Bernardino, which had been the subject of several high-profile
corruption cases, was in the process of developing a campaign
finance ordinance. Rather than appoint an ethics commission,
which could present financial as well as conflict of interest
challenges, the County proposed to contract with the FPPC to
enforce their local campaign finance ordinance. Moreover, the
County determined that it was in the best interest of the
County to retain the services of the FPPC to provide for the
enforcement and interpretation of San Bernardino County's
local campaign finance ordinance as the FPPC has special
skills, knowledge, experience, and expertise in the area of
enforcement and interpretation of campaign laws necessary to
effectively advise, assist, litigate, and otherwise represent
the County on such matters. As a result, the FPPC and San
Bernardino County entered into a mutual agreement, from
January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2014, for the FPPC to
provide the County campaign enforcement and interpretation
services for the impartial, effective administration,
implementation, and enforcement of the San Bernardino's
campaign finance reform ordinance. According to the FPPC, San
Bernardino County and the FPPC have entered into a new
two-year mutual agreement.
3)Local Campaign Ordinances and the PRA: Under existing law,
local government agencies have the ability to adopt campaign
ordinances that apply to elections within their jurisdictions,
though the PRA imposes certain limited restrictions on those
local ordinances. For instance, SB 726 (McCorquodale),
Chapter 1456, Statutes of 1985, limited the ability of local
jurisdictions to impose campaign filing requirements that
differed from those in the PRA, permitting such requirements
only when they applied solely to candidates and committees
whose activity is restricted primarily to the jurisdiction in
question. This provision sought to avoid the necessity of a
candidate or committee active over a wider area being required
to adhere to several different campaign filing schedules.
AB 1083
Page 7
Similarly, AB 1430 (Garrick), Chapter 708, Statutes of 2007,
prohibited local governments from adopting rules governing
member communications that are different than the rules that
govern member communications at the state level.
Aside from these restrictions, however, local government
agencies generally have a significant amount of latitude when
developing local campaign finance ordinances that apply to
elections in those agencies' jurisdictions. Any jurisdiction
that adopts or amends a local campaign finance ordinance is
required to file a copy of that ordinance with the FPPC, and
the FPPC posts those ordinances on its website.
Several cities and counties have adopted campaign finance
ordinances, some of which are very extensive. In some cases,
those ordinances include campaign contribution limits,
reporting and disclosure requirements that supplement the
requirements of the PRA, temporal restrictions on when
campaign funds may be raised, and voluntary public financing
of local campaigns, among other provisions. In many cases,
local campaign finance ordinances are enforced by the district
attorney of the county or by the city attorney. In at least a
few cases, however, local jurisdictions have set up
independent boards or commissions to enforce the local
campaign finance laws.
The FPPC does not currently enforce any local campaign finance
ordinances other than San Bernardino County's. The FPPC can
and does, however, bring enforcement actions in response to
violations of the PRA that occur in campaigns for local
office, even in cases where the local jurisdiction brings
separate enforcement actions for violations of a local
campaign finance ordinance.
4)Criminal, Civil, and Administrative Enforcement of the PRA and
Local Campaign Ordinances: Violations of the PRA are subject
to administrative, civil, and criminal penalties. Generally,
AB 1083
Page 8
the Attorney General (AG) and district attorneys have
responsibility for enforcing the criminal provisions of the
PRA, though any elected city attorney of a charter city also
has the authority to act as the criminal prosecutor for
violations of the PRA that occur within the city. The FPPC,
the AG, district attorneys, and elected city attorneys of
charter cities all have responsibility for enforcement of the
civil penalties and remedies provided under the PRA, depending
on the nature and location of the violation, while any member
of the public also has the ability to file a civil action to
enforce the civil provisions of the PRA, subject to certain
restrictions. The FPPC has the sole authority to bring
administrative proceedings for enforcement of the PRA. When
the FPPC determines on the basis of such a proceeding that a
violation of the PRA has occurred, it can impose monetary
penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, in addition to
ordering the violator to cease and desist violation of the PRA
and to file any reports, statements, or other documents or
information required by the PRA.
In the case of local campaign ordinances, there is no single
approach as to the types of penalties that are available for
the violations of those ordinances. Many local ordinances
provide for misdemeanor or civil penalties for violations,
while some ordinances do not establish any penalties for
violations. In some local jurisdictions that have independent
boards or commissions to enforce the local campaign finance
ordinances, those boards or commissions have the authority to
bring administrative enforcement proceedings, similar to the
authority the FPPC has under the PRA.
5)Is Expansion of the Law to Soon? As mentioned above, in 2012,
AB 2146 (Cook) became law to permit San Bernardino County and
the FPPC to enter into an agreement for the FPPC to enforce
the County's local campaign finance reform ordinance. Among
other provisions, AB 2146 also required the FPPC, if it
entered into an agreement with the San Bernardino County Board
of Supervisors, to report to the Legislature with specified
information on or before January 1, 2017. Current law
AB 1083
Page 9
requires the report to include, but not be limited to, the
status of the agreement, the estimated annual cost savings, if
any, for the County of San Bernardino, a summary of relevant
annual performance metrics, as specified, any public comments
submitted relative to the operation of the agreement, and any
legislative recommendations. According to the FPPC, a report
has not been submitted to the Legislature yet. Would it be
premature to expand current law when the Legislature has not
received a report detailing the effectiveness of the current
agreement between the FPPC and San Bernardino County?
Furthermore, the committee may wish to consider whether such an
expansion of the FPPC's workload could negatively impact the
ongoing enforcement of the PRA. Because there is no guarantee
that the City of Stockton's local campaign finance ordinance
will be consistent with the general framework of the PRA, this
additional local ordinance that the FPPC is asked to enforce
could add complexity to the FPPC's work. Conversely, this
bill only expands current law to add the City of Stockton's
local campaign finance ordinance and gives the FPPC discretion
on whether or not they will choose to enter into an agreement
with the City Council of the City of Stockton to enforce its
local campaign finance ordinance.
6)Political Reform Act of 1974: California voters passed an
initiative, Proposition 9, in 1974
that created the FPPC and codified significant restrictions and
prohibitions on candidates, officeholders, and lobbyists. That
initiative is commonly known as the PRA. Amendments to the
PRA that are not submitted to the voters, such as those
contained in this bill, must further the purposes of the
proposition and require a two-thirds vote of each house of the
Legislature.
7)Related Legislation: AB 910 (Harper), which is pending in
AB 1083
Page 10
this committee, authorizes the FPPC to administer and enforce
a local campaign finance ordinance for any city or county,
upon mutual agreement between the FPPC and the local agency,
as specified.
8)Previous Legislation: AB 2146 (Cook), Chapter 169, Statutes
of 2012, permitted San Bernardino County and the FPPC to enter
into an agreement that provides for the FPPC to enforce the
County's local campaign finance ordinance.
SB 1226 (Correa) of 2014, would have authorized any city or
county to enter into an agreement with the FPPC to administer
and enforce a local campaign finance ordinance. The bill was
gutted and amended in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
9)Double-Referral: This bill is double referred to the Assembly
Local Government Committee. Due to impending committee
deadlines, if this bill is approved in this committee today,
it is scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Local Government
Committee this afternoon. However, if this bill is amended in
committee today, it will not be able to be heard in the
Assembly Local Government Committee before this week's
deadline for policy committees to hear and report fiscal
bills. In light of this fact, if it is the committee's desire
to approve this bill with amendments, committee staff
recommends that this bill be passed out of committee with the
author's commitment to take those amendments subsequent to
passage by this committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
AB 1083
Page 11
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094